Plastic mesh bag

ABSTRACT

A seamless plastic mesh bag is made from a melt of thermoplastic by forming an open mesh network of plastic strands terminating in a selvage of thickened cross-section and then stretching the mesh. The selvage forms the upper rim of the finished bag and may include integral handles and latching closures. The stretched open mesh forms the bag body. The stretching may include molecular orientation, and is accomplished by moving a mandrel against the mesh. Suitable apparatus produces bags in a desired variety of sizes and shapes.

Elite tes tent 1191 Ne, .ir 1451 Sept. 4, 1973 [54] PLASTlC BAG FOREIGNPATENTS OR APPLICATIONS lnvemofl g Nails, Jr, 108 2nd 1,223,027 2 1971Great Britain 229 010. 5 Austin, Tex. 78701 350,767 [/1961 Switzerland229/D1G. 3

221 Filed: Sept. 20, 1971 Primary Exammer-Donald F. Norton 1 PP N05181,718 AttorneyTom Arnold et al.

[52] US. Cl ISO/1.7, ISO/3, 229/D1G. 3, [57] ABSTRACT 7 264/292 Aseamless plastic mesh bag is made from a melt of [51] Int. Cl 365d l/38thermoplastic by forming an open mesh network of [58] Fleld of Search150/1, 1.7, 48, 50; Plastic strands terminating in a Salvage f thickened264/288 cross-section and then stretching the mesh. The selvage formsthe upper rim of the finished bag and may in- [56] Relerences cued cludeintegral handles and latching closures. The UNITED STATES PATENTSstretched open mesh forms the bag body. The stretch- 3,1s4,524 5/1965Whiteford 264/292 x g y include molecular orientation, and is accom-3,642,967 2/1972 Doll 229/DIG. 3 plished by moving a mandrel against themesh. Suitable 3,313,470 4/1967 Renner 150/ 1.7 X apparatus producesbags in a desired variety of sizes 3,470,928 10/1969 Schwartz 150 1 andshapes 3,140,330 7/1964 Gutierrez 264/288 2,979,844 4/1961 17 Claims, 9Drawing Figures Lattuca 150/48 PATENTEDSEP 4am 3756300 SHEEI 1 BF 2 F/GIPAIENTEDser 4 ms SHEET 2 0F 2 m mil PLASTIC MESH BAG BACKGROUND OF THEINVENTION This invention relates to a novel plastic mesh bag and tomethods and apparatus for producing the same. More particularly, thisinvention relates to a seamless, integrally formed plastic bag having anopen mesh or net body, to methods for producing such bags fromthermoplastic melts, and to apparatus useful in such production.

Mesh, as used herein, includes open-work, lace, net, and like products.A great variety of plastic mesh products, as well as methods andapparatus for their production, are well known in the art. Many of theseproducts are widely used in packaging and decorative applications.

Bags commonly made from plastic mesh include, for example, thoseintended for the packaging of vegetables, fruit, and the like, which arecommonly produced by stitching or otherwise closing the lower end of asegment of tubular mesh. Such bags are filled with their intendedcontents and similarly closed at their upper ends. This type of bag isnot suitable for general use as a shopping bag or the like because it isnot adapted to be lifted or carried by its upper end except by gatheringthe mesh and grasping it annularly, nor is it adapted for attachinghandles to the mesh edges attheir tops-The manufacture of mesh bags fromflat sheets of mesh rather than tubular mesh additionally requiresfolding the mesh sheet and connecting the two edges of the sheet to eachother in some manner, as by heat sealing, stapling, or the like.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to anew and improved plastic mesh bag suitable for use as a shopping bag andfor carrying purchases from department stores, specialty shops, and thelike, and to methods and apparatus for producing such bags from a meltof thermoplastic.

Plastic mesh bags according to this invention are of one-piece,integral, i.e., seamless, construction, and provide an inexpensive,convenient, and relatively transparent bag suitable for numerousapplications wherein merchants desire to provide bags to customers forcarrying their purchases while also wishing the contents of the bags tobe visible as a deterent to pilfering,

shoplifting, and the like.

It is, therefore, one object of this invention to provide a plastic meshbag suitable for carrying purchases from department stores, specialtyshops, grocery stores, and the like.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a seamless bag ofgenerally open plastic mesh which may be easily and conveniently carriedby a shopper, and which permits the contents to remain visible to deterits use in connection with pilfering, shoplifting, and the like.

Another object of .this invention is to provide a method for producingseamless, integrally formed plastic mesh bags from a melt ofthermoplastic.

Among the other objects of this invention is to provide a continuousmethod for producing seamless plastic mesh bags.

Among the further objects of this invention is to provide apparatus formaking the plastic mesh bag of this invention.

These objects and others which will be apparent are achieved by thepresent invention wherein a seamless open mesh plastic bag comprises acontinuous open mesh network body having an integral selvage of greatercross-section forming an upper rim to support the bag. The mesh networkpreferably comprises a matrix of four-sided polygons having their shortaxes in the direction that stretching occurs to shape the bag bodies.Such bags are made from a melt of thermoplastic by first forming aplastic blank comprising an open mesh network of flexible strands havinga thicker selvage, and then stretching the mesh in one or more steps toproduce the bag body. The stretching of the mesh is best carried outunder temperature-controlled conditions to obtain the desired degree ofmolecular orientation in the finished bags. I-Iandles may be provided onthe selvage to facilitate carrying of the bag. The drawing of the bagbodies is accomplished by moving a mandrel of suitable size and shapeagainst the open mesh network while holding the selvage securely inplace.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of oneembodiment of the plastic mesh bag of this invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an alternate embodiment of the plasticmesh bag of this invention.

FIG. 3 is a partial perspective view of the bag illustrated in FIG. 2,showing a pin-and-socket latching assembly.

FIGS. 4 and 5 are partial top views of series of interconnected flatplastic blanks for producing bags of this invention, illustratingvarious alternate embodiments of open mesh network.

FIG. 6 is a top view of an injection molded blank for making mesh bagsin accordance with this invention.

FIG. 7 is a side view of the injection molded blank of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 schematically illustrates one embodiment of the method andapparatus for making seamless plastic mesh bags in accordance with thisinvention.

FIG. 9 is a plan view of an alternate mandrel for drawing plastic meshto form bodies of bags in accordance with this invention.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to FIG. 1, referencenumeral 10 identifies a seamless plastic mesh bag defining a selvageedge 12 including handles 14. As shown, handles 14 are in mating,abutting relationship for carrying the bag. This one-piece, integralstructure results in a lightweight, high strength, tear-resistant bag,which may be relatively inexpensively manufactured. It will be apparentthat the size and shape of the bag, as well as of the strands formingthe open mesh body, may be varied to suit the end use for which the bagis intended. For example, bags intended for use as shopping bags wouldbe larger and of heavier construction than those intended for carryingsmall purchases. Also, the transverse cross section of the mesh strandsmay be circular, oval, triangular, rectangular, or the like. Forexample, rectangular cross-section strands may resemble ribbons in somecases.

The term seamless" as used herein to describe the plastic mesh bag ofthis invention means that no welds are made in any part of the bag afterthe original bag blank is formed, as will be described below, and thatno staples or other connecting means are added to the blank after suchforming. In other words, the entire bag is formed from a single piece ofplastic.

The integral structure of the mesh and selvage portions of the bagresults in a strong and lightweight unit having exceptional strengthwith respect to the amount of plastic used. The handles formed in theselvage at the top of the bag enable the bag to be easily picked up,shaken open, filled, and carried. Although this bag might be quiteacceptable without handles, as the selvage might be folded upon itselfand grasped much as a handle would be, perhaps with the carriers fingersextending through the mesh openings of the bag, the provision of handlesresults in more convenient carrying and is preferred.

FIG. 2 illustrates an alternative embodiment of the plastic mesh bag ofthis invention. In this embodiment, mesh 16 terminates in integralselvage 18, and handles 22 are integral with mesh 16 as well as withselvage 18. It will be noted that the selvages of the bags illustratedin FIGS. 1 and 2 form closed figures which may be disposed in a plane.When the selvage is so disposed, handles 14 of FIG. 1 will be outsidethe closed figure defined by selvage 12, whereas handles 22 of FIG. 2will be inside the closed figure defined by selvage 18.

Selvage 13 also contains a pair of hinges 19 about which the selvage isfolded. These hinges are of standard configuration and are formed bynotching or otherwise reducing the cross section of the selvage atappropriate locations. Durability of such hinges is particularly goodwhen the material of which they are formed is polypropylene. Of course,hinges are not necessary to the bags of this invention, as may readilybe appreciated by their absence from the embodiment of FIG. 1.

In this embodiment, selvage 18 further defines typical pin-and-socketlatching assemblies 20, as are known in the art. One such assembly isillustrated in greater detail in FIG. 3. Each pin-and-socket latchingassembly consists of a pin 24 having a head slightly larger than thediameter of the shank between the head and the selvage, and a socket, orhole, 26 having a diameter slightly smaller than the head of pin 24. Thepins and sockets are correspondingly located so that when the selvage isfolded about the hinges between them they will be in matingrelationship, permitting the pins to be pushed through sockets. The pinswill be retained in the sockets because the heads are slightly largerthan the diameter of the sockets. Sockets 26 may be cross cut at spacedlocations around their periphery as indicated by cuts 28 to make iteasier for the head of pin 24 to be pushed through the socket. Bychanging the relative sizes of the pins and sockets, pin andsocketlatching assemblies permitting repeated reopening of the bag may beconverted to locking assemblies in which opening of the bag will likelydestroy the pins by pulling the heads from the shanks. Of course, otherlatching assemblies may be used with the bags of this invention. Forexample, a hook-and-loop latching as sembly such as Velcro or a plasticzipper might be used.

FIGS. 4 and illustrate alternative embodiments from which plastic meshbags in accordance with this invention may be formed. The flat plasticblank of FIG. 4 includes an open mesh network 31 terminating in selvage28. Handles 29 are integral with selvage 28. In addition,interconnections 30 serve to connect successive extruded blanks in acontinuous series, or stream. These interconnections are formed only forconvenience in handling the series of continuously extruded blanks, andare removed during the final processing of the bags. The solid plasticregion 33 of mesh 31 is provided to give extra strength to the bagbottom, and to provide a location for applying tension forces to themesh to stretch the mesh into a bag shaped body. Hinges 32 are formed inthe selvage to permit easy folding of the selvage to bring the handlesinto abutting relation.

FIG. 5 illustrates still another embodiment of the open mesh network ofthe bags of this invention, wherein web 34 defines numerous variablysized openings .36 having their long dimensions generally in thedirection defined by the selvage and their short dimensions generallyperpendicular to the selvage. Additionally, web 34 defines notches 38reducing the cross section of plastic in the mesh at selected locationsas an aid to achieving a controlled molecular orientation upon drawingthe mesh to form the body portion of the bag.

It will be appreciated that a variety of plastic materials are suitablefor application in the plastic mesh bags of this invention, includingpolyethylene, polypropylene, other polyolefins, polyamides, polyesters,and like thermoplastic materials, the nature and properties of which arewell known to those skilled in the art.

A wide variety of mesh patterns may be applied in various embodiments ofthis invention. In particular, for any given blank size and material,longer strands within the mesh between strand intersections will per mita deeper drawing to be done in forming the bag body. Such strands mayfollow a sine wave path in a generally square pattern, the wavy pathproviding more plastic between strand intersections than is provided ina similar straight strand pattern. Additional alternatives would includezig-zag strands and strands in a spiral pattern. As stretching of themesh to form the bag bodies will occur to the greatest extent in thedirection be tween the selvage and the center of the mesh network, anetwork of strands forming polygons having at least four sides withtheir short axes in the direction of stretch will be well suited to thisinvention. It will be appreciated that a mesh network of triangles orother stable figures will be less desirable in this application,although any mesh network pattern may be used if the amount ofstretching is limited accordingly.

FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate a three-dimensional, injection molded blank formaking seamless plastic mesh bags in accordance with this invention.Such blanks may be produced with injection molding apparatus andtechniques well known to those skilled in the art. The advantage ofinjection molding is that a threedirnensional blank may be produced,requiring less stretching than would a flat blank to form a suitablemesh bag. The advantage of forming a threedimensional blank will, ofcourse, be related to the depth of the mesh portions so formed. In thisembodiment, open mesh 56 terminates in selvage 55 which defines twosymmetrical arcuate sections intersecting in acute angles 55. Theselvage may be folded along the axis defined by intersections 55 so thathandles 57, integral with the selvage, are in mating alignment. The

plastic mesh of this blank is formed with a flat bottom,

as is best illustrated in FIG. 7.

Injection molded blanks for the open mesh plastic bags of this inventionmay be formed in a variety of sizes and shapes. Although such blanks arethreedimensional, and may be useful as mesh bags immediately upon suchforming, these blanks will usually be drawn to form deeper bags to moreefficiently use the plastic therein. Of course, plastic blanks for theproduction of bags in accordance with this invention may be made by diecutting a sheet of plastic or by a combination of methods such as firstinjection molding and then die cutting the blanks.

It will be seen that the selvages of the seamless plastic bags of thisinvention may be of almost any shape. For example, in FIG. 1 the selvagehas two generally parallel sides joined at their ends by arcuatesections. The selvage of FIG. 2, when disposed in a plane, isrectangular and includes hinges; that of FIGS. 4 and 5 is circular. Infact, any closed figure will be satisfactory for the selvage of the bagsof this invention. If a pair of handles is to' be provided on theselvage, they are most satisfactorily located in opposing relationshipso that when the selvage is folded about its hinges or otherwise broughttogether the handles will 'be in abutting relationship to be graspedeasily with one hand.

The seamless plastic mesh bag of this invention may be produced byforming a melt of thermoplastic into an integral structure comprising anopen mesh of thermoplastic strands surrounded by a relatively heavierrim, or selvage, and then drawing the mesh portion of that structure toform the body portion of the bag. The initial forming of themesh-selvage structure may be accomplished by extrusion of asubstantially flat, or twodimensional, blank using cylindrical extrusionmeans substantially as described in my US. Pat. No. 3,394,431. It willbe understood that the twoor threedimensional blank also might beproduced by injection molding using apparatus and techniques commonlyknown to those skilled in that process.

One embodiment of the method for producing seamless, plastic mesh bagsin accordance with this invention is schematically illustrated in FIG.8. Production commences with the forming of a series or stream 60 ofinterconnected plastic blanks from rotating cylindrical extrusion means62. The-series of plastic blanks is then passed into cooling bath 64,where the plastic is given an initial set. Roller 66 may conveniently belocated in the bath to turn the stream of blanks. Drive rollers 68counterrotate to move the stream of plastic blanks between them at aconstant rate substantially equal to that at which the blanks areextruded. Drive rollers 72 counter-rotate to move the stream of plasticblanks between them in intermittent, or step-wise, fashion to feed thestream of blanks to the drawing operation which will be described below.Slack loop 70 is formed between rollers 68 and rollers 72 to maintain arelatively constant tension on the continuous stream of blanks betweentheir continuous extrusion and their stepped advancement through thedrawing operation. The slack loop typically includes a weighted rollerwhich alternately falls and rises as the amount of material between theextrusion and drawing operations varies.

The stream of plastic blanks is then advanced into temperaturecontrolled bath 74 to bring the temperature of the plastic to thatdesired for the drawing operation. When it is desired to molecularlyorient the plastic strands of the open mesh, the temperature of bath 74will typically be maintained below the melting point and above the glasstransition point of the plastic. This temperature range is a function ofthe particular plastic of which the open mesh bags of this invention areformed. The amount of molecular orientation obtained in the drawingprocess will be affected by the temperature of the bath. A bathtemperature approximately half-way between the melting point and theglass transition point of the plastic is usually suitable for achievingmolecular orientation. Too high a temperature will have an adverseeffect on the orientation because of the annealing or molecularrelaxation which occurs at temperatures in the upper portion of thisrange. It will be appreciated, of course, that many other factors affectthe degree of molecular orientation which will occur on the processingof plastic materials, and that the melting point and glass transitionpoint of a given plastic define only the temperature limits betweenwhich molecular orientation may be achieved. In many plastics thistemperature range spans normal room temperature, while in others theglass transition temperature may be 100C. or more. The temperature ofthe bath may be controlled by heater 75, or by suitable cooling means(not shown) as required by the thermoplastic material.

The drawing operation may be carried out in one or more steps asillustrated by FIG. 8. The plastic mesh blank is moved into positionwithin the bath over a rotatable support member 78. A selvage hold-downmember 76 is moved against the support member, grasping the selvage ofthe bag blank between the hold-down member and the support member.Support member 78 is rotatably mounted on axle 82, and defines in thisembodiment four pockets 80 into which the mesh may be stretched by thedrawing apparatus.

After the selvage is secured to the support member by the hold-downmember, a first mandrel 84 is advanced into pocket 80 to stretch themesh. Mandrel 84 is then withdrawn, hold-down 76 raised, and supportmember 78 rotated clockwise to a second drawing station. At the seconddrawing station, a second holddown 76 is moved into position against thesupport member to hold the selvage firmly in place while a secondmandrel 86 is moved into pocket 80 to further stretch and give finalform to the mesh bag. Mandrel 86 is then withdrawn, hold-down member 76raised, and support member 78 again rotated 90' clockwise. During thisrotation, the plastic mesh body of the bag is withdrawn from pocket 80,and advanced out of the bath. Roller 88 may be placed in the bath toassist in drawing the bag from the support member and turning the streamof bags for removal from the bath.

The stream of plastic mesh bags is advanced from the bath by suitablemeans such as a pair of chain-type drive members 90, engaging theselvage on either side of the plastic mesh bags. Where desired, a blower92 may be used to blow air over the finished bags to cool the plastic asthe stream emerges from the temperature controlled bath. A cutter 94then trims the excess plastic which formed the interconnecting meansbetween the individual bags in the stream of blanks, and the bags areready for packing and shipment. The excess plastic may be collected andrecycled to extruder 62.

It will be understood that the drawing of the plastic mesh bags of thisinvention may be carried out in a single drawing operation rather thanin the two-stage drawing operation described above. In such a case, thebag would be withdrawn from support member 78 and removed from bath 74after drawing has been accomplished at the first drawing station.Although the drawing operation may utilize both male and female drawingmembers in shaping the plastic bags of this invention, the drawing maybe accomplished by use of a suitable male member together with means forholding the sel vage securely in place while the mesh is stretched.

When two-stage drawing is to be carried out, the plasticinterconnections between the individual bag blanks must be of asufficient length to span the circumference of member 78 between twoadjacent pockets. If a single drawing operation is to be performed onthe blank, the length of the interconnections may be reducedaccordingly. Support member 78 may be rotated in any ordinary motivemeans, appropriately geared to the advancement of the plastic mesh bagblanks. The number and location of pockets around the periphery ofsupport member 78 may be varied as desired, depending on the size ofpocket desired and the size of support member 78. In the two-stagedrawing operation illustrated, the drawing stations are located 90apart. Simultaneous drawing may be carried out at the two stations. Itwill be appreciated that the drawing operation might be carried out inthree or more stages, as well as that the two-stage drawing operationmight preferably be carried out with the mandrels in opposing relationto one another to more evenly balance the loading on axle 82 of thesupport member.

FIG. 9 illustrates another embodiment of the mandrels of FIG. 8. in thisembodiment, expandable mandrel 100 comprises two individual mandrelelements 102 and 10 i separated by cam 106. In operation, mandrel 100 isadvanced against the mesh through the selvage and into a pocket of thesupport member with the long axis of the cam in the direction ofmovement of the mandrel. After the mandrel has been advanced into thepocket, cam 106 is rotated 90 to expand the outer ends of mandrelelements 102 and R04 to increase the transverse dimension of the plasticmesh bag body, generally at the end of the bag body away from theselvage. Cam 106 is returned to its original position and mandrel 100withdrawn from the pocket. Use of such an expandable mandrel isdesirable in producing a generally flat bottomed bag in a single drawingstage. Alternate expandable mandrels will include mandrels formed of anexpandable material such as rubber or the like and adapted to stretchthe mesh in a first direction along the long axis of the mandrel andthen to be inflated to stretch the mesh transversely to that firstdirection. It will be appreciated that other embodiments of multipleelement mandrels may also be applied to produce plas-- tic mesh bags ofthis invention. For example, a threeelement mandrel might be used inwhich the central el ement is initially advanced to stretch the plasticand the two outer elements are subsequently advanced to produce anadditional stretch giving the bag body its finished shape.

As above discussed, the production of plastic mesh bags in accordancewith this invention may utilize molecular orientation of the meshstrands to produce relatively stronger bags using less plastic. Bymolecularly orienting the mesh strands, a stretch of 4 to l, more orless, may be achieved in the mesh while increasing the tensile strengthof the mesh in the stretched direction. As deeper bags, requiring agreater draw, are desired, it becomes advantageous to lengthen the pathsof the mesh strands in the bag blanks to provide sufficient plastic forthe deeper draw, as above discussed. Improved molecular orientation ofthe mesh may be achieved by carefully controlling the uniformity oftemperature in the mesh and the uniformity of tension applied to themesh during the drawing operations.

The mesh portion of the bag blank may be structured to improveorientability by the inclusion therein of notches as illustrated by FIG.5, to reduce the cross section of the plastic in the mesh at suchlocations so that stretching and orientation will tend to start there,or by selectively varying the cross section of the mesh strands. Forexample, mesh 31 of FIG. 4 might be dimensioned so that the diameter ofthe mesh strands increases slightly from the center outwardly towardsthe selvage or, conversely, from the selvage in towards the center suchthat orientation of the mesh will tend to initiate uniformly in annularrings as tension is applied to the mesh. Orientation of such a mesh willtend to occur in the annular region defined by the weakest meshsegments, and will propagate through increasingly larger segments untilthe entire mesh is oriented. it will be understood by those skilled inthe art that the choice of relative mesh dimensions must be made over arestricted range, in that the resistance to further stretching of theoriented portions of the mesh must be greater than that of the remainingunoriented portions in order to avoid weakening or breaking the meshstrands. Orientation, of course, need not occur over the entire lengthof any individual strand in the mesh. The orientation may initiate in agiven strand and propagate through less than the entire segment of thestrand between mesh intersections. Similarly, orientation may occur insome strands and not in others. These effects will be determined by thedegree of stretch to which the mesh is subjected, and by the relativegeometries of the mesh pattern and the mandrel by which it is stretched.

Numerous variations of the plastic mesh bag embodiments illustratedherein will be apparent to those skilled in the art. For example, therelative sizes and patterns in which the mesh strands are formed in thebag blanks will affect to a large extent the size and shape of bag whichmay ultimately be produced. In addition, the size and shape of theselvage of the plastic mesh may be varied to achieve desired bag shapes,including circular, rectangular elliptical, and the like. Accordingly,the embodiments disclosed herein are illustrative only, and may bereadily modified by those ordinarily skilled in the art withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of this invention. Therefore, it isnot intended that the above embodiments circumscribe the inventionexcept as it is limited by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A blank deformable to constitute a seamless plastic mesh bag,comprising:

a substantially two-dimensional, seamless open mesh network of flexiblethermoplastic strands,

said network having a single selvage edge defining a closed figure,

said selvage being of relatively greater cross section than the strandsof said network, and

said strands being deformable with respect to said selvage when saidselvage is disposed in a plane to define an open mesh surface bounded bysaid selvage and having a significant dimension in a direction normal tosaid plane.

2. A blank deformable to constitute a seamless plastic mesh bag asrecited in claim 1, wherein some of the strands of said network areadapted to be at least partially molecularly oriented in the directionnormal to said plane.

3. A blank deformable to constitute a seamless plastic mesh bag asrecited in claim 1 and having a handle disposed on said selvage.

4. A blank deformable to constitute a seamless plastic mesh bag asrecited in claim 1, including handle means disposed in opposing relationon said selvage.

5. A blank deformable to constitute a seamless plastic mesh bag asrecited in claim 1, including hinge means formed into said selvage atopposed points thereon permitting opposing halves of said selvage to befolded into abutting relationship.

6. A blank deformable to constitute a seamless plastic mesh bag asrecited in claim 5, including means to hold said opposing halves of saidselvage in abutting relationship for maintaining said bag in a closedcondition.

7. A blank deformable to constitute a seamless plastic mesh bag asrecited in claim 1, wherein the closed figure defined by said selvageapproximates a circle.

8. A blank deformable to constitute a seamless plastic mesh bag asrecited in claim 1, wherein the closed figure defined by said selvageapproximates a rectangle.

9. A blank deformable to constitute a seamless plastic mesh bag asrecited in claim 1, wherein said network comprises a matrix offour-sided polygons.

10. A blank deformable to constitute a seamless plastic mesh bag asrecited in claim 9, wherein each of said polygons has a short axisgenerally disposed toward the center of said network and a long axisgenerally parallel said selvage.

11. A blank deformable to constitute a seamless plastic mesh bag asrecited in claim 10, wherein the closed figure defined by said selvageapproximates a circle having opposing handle members outwardly disposedthereon.

12. A blank deformable to constitute a seamless plastic mesh bag asrecited in claim 11, wherein the thickness of said selvage is greaterthan the thickness of the strands of said network.

13. A blank deformable to constitute a seamless plastic mesh bag asrecited in claim 9, including hinge means disposed in said selvage.

14. A blank deformable to constitute a seamless plastic mesh bag asrecited in claim 1, wherein said network comprises a matrix of meshopenings, each of said mesh openings having a long dimension generallyin the direction defined by said selvage and a short dimension generallyin the direction perpendicular to said selvage.

115. A blank deformable to constitute a seamless plastic mesh bag asrecited in claim 14, including notches at selected locations in saidmesh to reduce the cross section of the mesh at said locations.

16. A blank deformable to constitute a seamless plastic mesh bag asrecited in claim 14, wherein the thickness of said selvage is greaterthan the thickness of the strands of said network.

17. A blank deformable to constitute a seamless plastic mesh bag asrecited in claim 1, wherein said network comprises a matrix of meshopenings, each of said mesh openings having a long dimension generallyin the direction defined by said selvage and a short dimension generallyin the direction perpendicular to said selvage,

including hinge means disposed in said selvage.

10! i l l

1. A blank deformable to constitute a seamless plastic mesh bag,comprising: a substantially two-dimensional, seamless open mesh networkof flexible thermoplastic strands, said network having a single selvageedge defining a closed figure, said selvage being of relatively greatercross section than the strands of said network, and said strands beingdeformable with respect to said selvage when said selvage is disposed ina plane to define an open mesh surface bounded by said selvage andhaving a significant dimension in a direction normal to said plane.
 2. Ablank deformable to constitute a seamless plastic mesh bag as recited inclaim 1, wherein some of the strands of said network are adapted to beat least partially molecularly oriented in the direction normal to saidplane.
 3. A blank deformable to constitute a seamless plastic mesh bagas recited in claim 1 and having a handle disposed on said selvage.
 4. Ablank deformable to constitute a seamless plastic mesh bag as recited inclaim 1, including handle means disposed in opposing relation on saidselvage.
 5. A blank deformable to constitute a seamless plastic mesh bagas recited in claim 1, including hinge means formed into said selvage atopposed points thereon permitting opposing halves of said selvage to befolded into abutting relationship.
 6. A blank deformable to constitute aseamless plastic mesh bag as recited in claim 5, including means to holdsaid opposing halves of said selvage in abutting relationship formaintaining said bag in a closed condition.
 7. A blank deformable toconstitute a seamless plastic mesh bag as recited in claim 1, whereinthe closed figure defined by said selvage approximates a circle.
 8. Ablank deformable to constitute a seamless plastic mesh bag as recited inclaim 1, wherein the closed figure defined by said selvage approximatesa rectangle.
 9. A blank deformable to constitute a seamless plastic meshbag as recited in claim 1, wherein said network comprises a matrix offour-sided polygons.
 10. A blank deformable to constitute a seamlessplastic mesh bag as recited in claim 9, wherein each of said polygonshas a short axis generally disposed toward the center of said networkand a long axis generally parallel said selvage.
 11. A blank deformableto constitute a seamless plastic mesh bag as recited in claim 10,wherein the closed figure defined by said selvage approximates a circlehaving opposing handle members outwardly disposed thereon.
 12. A blankdeformable to constitute a seamless plastic mesh bag as recited in claim11, wherein the thickness of said selvage is greater than the thicknessof the strands of said network.
 13. A blank deformable to constitute aseamless plastic mesh bag as recited in claim 9, including hinge meansdisposed in said selvage.
 14. A blank deformable to constitute aseamless plastic mesh bag as recited in claim 1, wherein said networkcomprises a matrix of mesh openings, each of said mesh openings having along dimension generally in the direction defined by said selvage and ashort dimension generally in the direction perpendicular to saidselvage.
 15. A blank deformable to constitute a seamless plastic meshbag as recited in claim 14, including notches at selected locations insaid mesh to reduce the cross section of the mesh at said locations. 16.A blank deformable to constitute a seamless plastic mesh bag as recitedin claim 14, wherein the thickness of said selvage is greater than thethickness of the strands of said network.
 17. A blank deformable toconstitute a seamless plastic mesh bag as recited in claim 1, whereinsaid network comprises a matrix of mesh openings, each of said meshopenings having a long dimension generally in the direction defined bysaid selvage and a short dimension generally in the directionperpendicular to said selvage, including hinge means disposed in saidselvage.